The first thing I noticed when entering into a hospital in Indonesia, was the smell. It was a familiar smell, the same exact smell in fact I had sniffed in many Greek hospitals. It is that disinfected smell, that leaves the room empty and cold. Combined with the white soulless walls, it was just like any other hospital, unfriendly and giving you a sudden need to go away, rather than go inside.
We were there to see my host’s family older member, their grandma (or mum, I guess). I had a cold the previous day (it was in December so before the pandemic), so I had told them many times that it would be better if I didn’t come with them, but they kept insisting and if I had too, I would have been rather rude. Grandma was rushed to the hospital a couple days ago and was diagnosed with a heart condition. She was in the ICU the previous days but was recently moved to her own room, where she could have visitors.
Entering the room what would you have expected? I guess a clean room, grandma in the bed and maybe another relative by her side. Well, what I saw, was around six relatives laying in their makeshift beds, having a fruit feast. It was less like being in a hospital room and more like being in a open picnic. Relatives were coming and going as they pleased with more and more entering the room with the occasional nurse and doctor here and there, which didn’t seem to have any objection to the encounters going on inside. At some point we were barely fitting in the room, while most of us were sitting on the floor.
The feast was also continuing and escalating quickly. After the fruits, we had some cake and then they brought the crab. Actually, they brought many crabs, which they proceed to pull of the meat from and eat. I tried some too and I would never expect that my first time trying crab would have been in a hospital room floor. Of course they continued eating after that, as people were coming and going all the time, so different appetites were also entering and leaving. Next up was noodles. Together with the feast we also had entertainment, which was mostly in the form of talking and video calls. At the room you could hear at least three conversations going on simultaneously, together with more than one video call with relatives that couldn’t be there. At the time we left, there were so many shoes by the door (cause we were removing them, before entering) that I could comfortably open a shoe shop.
That surreal hospital visit will definitely be something I will not forget and maybe it has given me a new perspective on hospital etiquette, but probably not.
The Indonesian Chronicles 